PRESS RELASE sent by Pier Faccin / Italian Association.

The 2014 edition is building up to become a great event: 60 boats registeres plus High quality material will be provided during the event. Check preview video below.

Images & Press Release by Rachel Jasperen
A-Class catamarans a class for all ages

North Americans preview by Bailey White, USACA President.
A-Class Championship around the corner
With less than one week to go there is great excitement building for this year’s A-Class North American Championships in North Carolina. Here are some words from Bailey White – The president of the USACA.

"We have a very strong entry list from across the United States and Canada, with some sailors traveling as far as 3000 miles to race. Competitors range from amateurs who love to sail to professionals from the America's Cup.

This article was made entirely by Tibo Laudren at the 2014 French Nats.
Besson raced the French designed & built Askell, a project by Dorian Le Pluart. What a nice project the Askell has become, I like how they went full forward beyond any contextual aspect and achieved an excellent 2nd place at La Baule , and looking ahead to the Europeans. The Askell has arrived.

Many thanks to Billy, Tibo and Dorian Le Pluart for this insight and the excellent pics by Stephanie Billarant
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Q&A with Billy Besson by Thibault Laudren.

This weekend the Class had two great events organized in parallel by the French & the Italian Association, along the hosting clubs: Cercle Nautique La Baule & Circolo Vela Arco http://www.circolovelaarco.com/
Kudos to both Classes to put almost 100 boats on the water. Image British Assoc.

All images Charles Marion. Great success for the 2014 French Nats organized by the Cercle Nautique La Baule. 53 Boats racing including two new French built designs.
Francois Gabart secured the title yesterday and today he didn´t race the the 9th final 'manche'. Gabart sailed the D3 designed by Gonzalo Redondo and built by Dominik Scheurer in France.
Mast was provided by Askell , the new French A-Cat built by the Le Pluart bros who provided the full boat to Billy Besson that ended second overall.

Mischa Heemskerk took the lead after the 3 races completed today. Luca Maffessoli holds second place followed by Thilo Keller and Helmut Stumhofer.
The event continues today (Monday).

No sailing pics available yet. Official Website http://circolovelaarco.com/en/icalrepeat.detail/2014/05/31/60/a-cat-eur…

After winning last two Italian events Luca Maffessoli continues to perform against a good fleet of Dutch & German talents. Luca is leading after two races ahead of Heemskerk & Keller .

Full Results at http://circolovelaarco.com/images/file/regata/2014/A%20CLASS%202014/Pro…

With two bullets and a 3rd Francois Gabart is almost the virtual 2014 French Champ.
Billy Besson & Jean Le Coq maintain their positions , with Jean having Yann Sibe putting pressure for his top 3 position. Image Charles Marion.

- Official Website With report in French & more pics at http://www.ecoledevoilecnbpp.fr/activites-du-cnbpp/championnat-de-franc…

Francois Gabart has some pedigree in the sailing World: Vendee Globe winner, former Tornado sailor, 4th at F18 Worlds 2013 after chances for the title. This year he focused also in the A-Class after, he is now leading the A-Class French Nats 2014. He will be also present at Bordeaux to defend local colours.

Second place for Billy Besson , another top World Class sailor and current Nr1 helm in the F18 and Nacra 17 Olympic Class